Programs and Events

In collaboration with members of the campus and greater Clemson communities, the Gantt Center offers co-curricular programs that build a complex understanding of diversity and social justice, while promoting the richness of diversity and inclusion. It allows for participants to explore multiple ways of knowing and unpack differences.

Grill & Greet is an event that aims to support the social integration and continuation of students into the Clemson and Gantt communities. Numerous multicultural student organizations (including culturally-based fraternities and sororities) host tables to provide individuals the opportunity to learn about campus involvement and peer engagement. There will be free food and beverages, live music, and entertainment!

The Elevate: Student Leadership Retreat has been designed to help our scholars build capacity for making change on campus and beyond. The purpose of Elevate is to foster brave spaces for undergraduate scholars, across various social identities, to explore topics of values, power, and social change and how they manifest in our daily experiences. Through a “why, how, what” framework – scholars will better understand how to positively enhance our campus community and greater society.

Over the past several years, researchers on Clemson’s campus have committed to identifying and uncovering the history of colonization and slavery directly connected to this campus. In an effort to honor tribal communities that inhabited this land, we recognize Indigenous People’s Day to decolonize the historical narratives, while building awareness about the importance of preserving Native American languages, culture, traditions, and identity.

Waziyatawin is a Dakota writer, teacher, and activist from the Pezihutazizi Otunwe (Yellow Medicine Village) in southwestern Minnesota. She earned her PhD in American History from Cornell University and has held tenured positions at Arizona State University and the University of Victoria where she also served as the Indigenous Peoples Research Chair in the Indigenous Governance Program. Waziyatawin has been working for Upper Sioux's Tribal Historic Preservation Office since 2016, serving for a period as the THP Officer, conducting traditional cultural property surveying and monitoring work, and most recently, compiling a history of her community. She is also Executive Director of the Dakota nonprofit Makoce Ikikcupi, a reparative justice project supporting Dakota reclamation of homeland. Committed to sustainability and simplicity, she is been experimenting with these concepts in her personal life. She is the author or co/editor of six volumes, including What Does Justice Look Like? The Struggle for Liberation in Dakota Homeland (Living Justice Press, 2008) and For Indigenous Minds Only: A Decolonization Handbook (SAR Press, 2012), edited with Michael Yellow Bird.

Professional Development Workshop: Decolonizing Education1:00pm-2:30pm in Meeting Room B, Hendrix Student CenterDecolonizing Education, designed for faculty, staff, and graduate students, will focus on the importance of cultivating our relationship to the natural world and the true source of life. The workshop will explore educational methods that provide liberatory pedagogical approaches. RSVP by Tuesday, October 2nd here:https://tinyurl.com/decolonizeedu

Keynote - Making Things Right: The Difficulty of Reparative Justice in a Colonial Context6:30pm-8:00pm in McKissick Theatre, Hendrix Student CenterViewed through the lens of the Dakota experience under United States colonial occupation, this presentation will explore the challenges of reparative justice work in Minisota Makoce (Land Where the Waters Reflect the Skies). Beginning with a brief history of harms to the people and land, Waziyatawin will then discuss today's anti-colonial justice efforts in Dakota homeland and the implications for indigenous homelands throughout the United States.

Sponsored by the Gantt Multicultural Center. Contact Jerad Green at jeradg@clemson.edu or 864-656-7625 for more information or accessibility needs.

The Equity and Pluralism Speaker Series seeks to explore the intersections of power and identity. Our speakers will expand dialogue, build cognitive sophistication, enhance empathetic reasoning, and challenge barriers to foster brave spaces that encourage equity and pluralism in our community.

Upcoming Speaker: Rusul AlrubailThursday, November 15, 2018

Rusul is Partner at CFNDRS, Inc. a design thinking agency that works with organizations on strategy, design and inclusion. Alrubail also works on literacy and student voice at The Writing Project. She is also an education writer, and a social justice advocate. Alrubail has taught English composition and literature to high school, college, and undergraduate students for 10 years. She has written with Edutopia, Education Week, The Guardian, PBS Newshour, The International Literacy Association, EdWeek Teacher, Teaching Tolerance, ASCD's Educational Leadership, Edsurge, Annenberg Learner Foundation, Medium and other prominent education publications. She's a TEDx speaker and a social media influencer on education, race, and equity. Her work focuses on teacher professional development and training, pedagogical practices in and out of the classroom, English language learners, equity & social justice, and media literacy as a means for professional development. You can find her work on her “Heart of a Teacher” blog: www.rusulalrubail.com

The Art of Multicultural Leadership Retreat is designed to engage student leaders in critical and thought provoking methods to leading cultural and diverse student organizations through team building, active engagement with staff, and leadership development. Students can expect to learn the value of their roles as leaders in their organizations and how they can be effective in their planning processes while learning to work across differences.

Staff members and advisers will be active in facilitating activities that allow students to reflect on their own values, strengths, and areas for improvement as leaders. Campus partners will give students valuable resources to help them make a lasting impact on the campus community. After this experience, student leaders will be equipped with knowledge of their roles and how they function, as well as how they can work to support the mission, goals and values of their organizations. Specifically, students will be able to use all of these leadership skills to impact the campus community.

Initially founded in 1977, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) honors and recognizes Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) people in the United States and their contributions that enhance and enrich U.S. American history. While the heritage month is nationally recognized during the month of May, Clemson celebrates APAHM during the month of April.

Donning of the Kente is a multicultural graduation ceremony designed to celebrate the accomplishments of students who have contributed to enhancing diversity and inclusion at Clemson University. The ceremony recognizes the academic, professional, and personal achievements of graduates as they transition into their post-collegiate lives. Rooted in African tradition, Donning of the Kente encourages students to identify a mentor who will present them with a kente stole. The stole is a symbol of prestige and an official rite of passage.